Tenchi Muyo Hellfire and Earth
by Chris Oddland
Summary: A Tenchi Muyo and Marvel crossover with dark themes. ... Now it begins!
1. Dark Shadows Rising

Disclaimer: I don't own Tenchi Muyo or any Marvel-related stuff.

Note: This is an AU-storyline that occurs after the 13 main OAV episodes. It uses elements from the manga.

Warning: The intro scenes are more in the R category than in the PG-13 category.

* * *

His name is Terrence Matthews, a member of the prestigious Hellfire Club. A man with a heart as black as the black business suit he wears.

While most of the other passengers were panicking, he was content sitting in his chair while reading a Terran newspaper.

"Oh Tsunami! They're boarding us!"

This was uttered from one of his co-passengers, a wealthy countess from Jurai wearing a kimono so detailed, decorated and luxurious that he was filled with disgust over the Juraian's display of her immense wealth.

He frowned a little and continued trying to read the article about Senator Robert Kelly's anti-mutant rants while gritting his teeth in frustration over the distracting noises emitted from the others. He had just finished the Daily Bugle's article about Spider-Man's latest escapade while ignoring Jameson's subjective stances towards the wall-crawler.

* * *

The luxury passenger liner the Star of Ryuten was one of the most popular star cruisers in the galaxy. It was built on the planet Ryuten by the sculptor Tatesuki for a minor noble possessing enough wealth to order such a ship without being economically ruined. Since it was forbidden for non-Juraians to purchase Tree ships manufactured on Ryuten for Jurai, Tatesuki had to make do with making a luxurious ship out of metal. Not that he had anything against it since he enjoyed variation in his work and was skilled in both constructing ships out of metal and Juraian trees, unlike Nomori Takebe who was only skilled in the construction of tree ships. The Star of Ryuten resembled the more numerous modern starships constructed of non-biological materials, but its exterior and interior rivalled the magnificence of many of the Juraian Tree ships.

Like all luxury liners, the Star of Ryuten was also very vulnerable to space pirate attacks lusting after the wealth and beautiful women inside it.

While travelling through one of ships most popular routes, a well-armed pirate ship awaited them after exiting light speed, taking out the two powerful escort ships meant to deal with such threats.

Since the Star of Ryuten wasn't equipped with any defensive weaponry, the captain tried to make a run for it, hoping that they would enter light speed in time before the pirates caught up with them.

Unfortunately for the captain, the pirates fired a salvo of missiles, targeting the ships rear engines.

The captain for all his skills and experience, managed to evade all the missiles - save one.

The missile struck the ship with incredible force, hitting the engines dead on. The damage was so severe that the engines shut down.

The passengers knowing what space pirates usually would do to them panicked in fear.

But there were exceptions.

One of them was a young man of seemingly Asian descent wearing a black business suit sitting in the chair and reading a foreign newspaper as if nothing had happened at all.

Another was scarred, black-bearded Juraian wearing the robes of an officer, fingering the handle of his energy sword in silence.

There were others who remained calm, but the two men were the most noticeable of them all. They wished at least to die with dignity.

The escape pods were out of the question. Most of the planets inhabited in this system were havens for space pirates who bore little love to people different to them.

The had heard the horror stories of families and people in escape pods landing on hostile planets inhabited by space pirates or being "rescued" by pirates. The men were lucky if they died quickly or were at least taken as prisoners in use for hostage situations or slaves. Most of the women would beg for death quickly than being violated by pirates and kept as their pets and sex-slaves.

After a while the pirate ship docked with the space cruiser, and seconds later it was boarded by space pirates.

They were a mixed group of scum from all the corners of the galaxy, all dressed in dirty clothes, their faces unkempt and course.

They slayed any man that tried to stop them while some of them dragged screaming women by their hair, clothes, arms, legs or neck.

When they arrived the ships main room reserved for passengers, they saw and felt the fear emitted from the majority of the passengers.

Except two.

One a Juraian holding a glowing sword of energy; the other one a man in a black business suit reading a newspaper, sitting comfortable in a luxurious chair.

"Lookie here!" laughed the leader of the pirates. "Two 'heroes' trying to stop us!"

The young man looked sourly at them, still holding the newspaper in his hands. "Why don't you do something useful for a change. Like stuffing the barrels of your blasters in your **mouth and pulling the trigger.**" he said in an irritated manner.

Suddenly, as if possessed, the band of space pirates dropped most of the things they were carrying, gripping their blasters and placing the barrels of their energy weapons inside their mouthsand pulling the triggers.

The sound of synchronized blaster fire ceased, and on the floor lay men with scorched holes through their back heads.

The passengers were shocked over this display of suicide, none of them believing their eyes over what had just happened.

The man placed the newspaper on the table. "Time to get rid of the rest of the rabble," he sighed in irritation. "I certainly hope they aren't trying to plunder the storage room. Crimson Phantom's been itching for some practice for days."

* * *

"What the hell is happening inside there!"

It had seemed like an easy picking for the pirate crew of the Chaos Rider. The boss and his men had boarded the ship and were heading for the main room while another group headed for the storeroom where most of the valuables lay in high-security safes.

They had lost contact with the captain and the main boarding crew a few minutes ago. Any attempts to reach them by com-link were unsuccessful.

Suddenly screams were erupting from the ship's computer as the men in the storeroom began to die. They heard the sound of blaster fire and the hum of an energy sword as it cut the men down.

"I don't want to d - AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"Kill it!"

"YIAEARRGH!"

"Where is it!"

"It's over there!"

"**NOOOOOOOO**"

"Fire! **Fire!**"

"It's too fast!"

"Look out! He's holding a - "

Then came the sound of projectile weapons being fired. The sound of bullets piercing flesh and blowing off limbs as the roars continued. The agonized screams of the wounded and the dying.

The remaining crew of the Chaos Rider could only listen in horror at the massacre occurring in the Star of Ryuten's storeroom.

And then they were assaulted by a powerful telepathic force bolt attack that made them feel as if their brains were on fire and turned inside-out at the same time.

Many of them screamed in pain.

_Must feel as if someone's drenched your minds in napalm, doesn't it, boys?_

Something was speaking to them inside their minds. They could feel cruelty and evil bred from darkness that made them seem like rank amateurs when it came to committing acts of evil.

From the shadows came a figure dressed in black and with a wicked smile.

"Time to die!" he whispered, and then the slaughter began.

* * *

It was as if in a living nightmare.

The stranger had forced several crewmembers into killing each other as brutally as possible.

One of them was banging the bloodied head of another against one of the control panel, even if he screamed at the stranger to make him stop.

Another was slowly skewering his best friend slowly with a vibroblade, both of them screaming in horror and pain.

Others he killed in a different manner.

Somehow he managed to project living nightmares into the heads of some of them.

One was slamming his head against the wall, seemingly to his death.

Another chose to shoot himself in the head with his blaster pistol, trying to burn out the images going through his agonized mind.

Another was squealing in pain as he had finished clawing out his very own eyes.

Moments later there were only two pirates alive.

"Now whatever shall I do with you two?" he said in cruel mockery as he sat in one of the command chairs, his legs placed on top the command panel.

He contemplated for a few seconds, then grinned and began pressing a few buttons.

One of the display monitors showed that he had opened one of the airlock hatches. The coldness of space was clearly displayed, revealing stars and more stars.

Then one of pirates began laughing hysterically and began running down the ship corridors. The remaining pirate could only stare in horror at the monitor as he saw his friend running towards the opened hatch, taking a running dive as he continued to laugh and laugh and laugh as he began dying.

The last pirate was certain that he was going to die as the stranger began to prance before him like a predator playing with its prey.

"That's enough!" the pirate heard someone cry out. It was a Juraian officer. "Stop this manslaughter this instant!"

"You know that these people would have killed all of us without any remorse," retorted the stranger calmly. "I just gave them a taste of their own 'medicine', sir. And by the way, you're rather calm for someone who's just witnessed what I'm capable of."

"I survived a skirmish with Ryoko 750 years ago!" the officer grumbled while pointing at the scars decorating his face, "And I met the Shi'ar Imperial Guard Oracle on some occasions, so I know a goddamn telepath when I see one!"

"I see. Then you will complain against getting rid of the last of the lot?"

"Of course! He's just a kid!"

The pirate appeared approximately somewhere between 16 and 17 when it came to judging age in a Terran perspective. His eyes filled with fear as he watched the two men argue.

"If he's old enough to be a pirate, then he's old enough to **bleed!**"

"And I refuse to let you murder a youth in cold blood."

They began to stare daggers at each other. Both filled with anger for different reasons. Until one of them relented.

"Very well," sighed Terrence Matthews, "I'll let him live under one condition: that you lock him up good somewhere he can't escape and cause any more mischief."

"Accepted," replied the officer.

The pirate lying on the cold floor stared at the Juraian. "Thank yo - "

He didn't get to finish as the officer kicked him square in the face, his boots impacting with full force, causing the young man to black out.

"I thought you said we weren't going to kill him?"

"I never said anything about not roughening him up," the Juraian replied bluntly while dragging the unconscious by one of his legs.

"I was actually planning to make him believe that I made him chop of his own manhood with that vibroknife in his belt there."

"Ouch." Was the humoured reply coming from the officer, "I hope I never get the chance to piss you off."

"Pray that no one ever makes me mad."

* * *

The passengers were surprised as the man in the business suit returned. He sat down on the chair he had vacated earlier as if nothing had ever happened at all. He simply took the newspaper again and continued were he was so abruptly interrupted. If any of the passengers had known English, they would have read the headlines about mutant activity around the Earth.

Another person entered the vast hall. A stranger wearing what appeared to be black leather combat armour, and wearing a red hood on his head, the lower parts of his face except the eyes covered by a red veil as well. Part of his clothes were covered in blood, and the passengers had a hunch from who that blood came from. From what everyone could see of his face, they discovered that he had a giant scar that began a few centimetres over his left eyebrow going downwards. The passengers couldn't see where the scar ended due to the veil.

"You're late," Terrence Matthews said flatly as the stranger took a seat beside him.

"When has that ever bothered you?" the stranger shrugged, a few droplets of blood dripping on the floor and forming a few puddles.

"Never, but it took you quite a while to kill the remaining pirates."

"Wouldn't be that much fun if I killed them all at once. Not much entertainment and real exercise in here if you know what I mean; especially since I wrecked all the training droids set to kill modus a few hours ago."

"You're a sadistic monster." Terrence said simply.

"What a coincidence." The stranger said in mock surprise, his hands waving in a melodramatic manner. "So are you."

"Touche." Terrence smiled. He called a waiter to him with a simple wave.

"Yes, my good sir?" the waiter said while looking quizzically at him and his companion sitting beside him.

"Tell the good captain to fetch his technicians and mechanics. The engines in the pirate ship can easily be taken apart and used for the repair of our ship's engines."

"I'll do it right away, sir!" he said, heading for the captain's bridge.

The waiter appeared a few minutes later. "Excuse me, but we've got an important transmission from someone who seems to know you very well. Says her name is Frost."

* * *

A while later in the private communications room of the ship.

"So how fares your travel to the meeting , boys?" Emma Frost asked them, while sitting on comfortable chair and wearing the costume that displayed her title as the White Queen of the Hellfire Club.

The screen transmitting the image of the White Queen was clear and without any static as it communicated with an equally powerful communication device in the private chamber of the headmistress of the Massachusetts Academy.

"Quite well, actually. We only had to deal with a few space pirates a few moments ago. Nothing serious." Terrence Matthew replied smiling sadistically. "Crimson Phantom and me had a jolly merry time in getting rid of them in quite gruesome and deliberately cruel manners."

"That's right." Crimson Phantom said, standing beside him, still wearing his red hood and veil. "It was an amusing past-time entertainment for the two of us. But let's cut the pleasantries, Emma, what did you want to tell us?"

"Maybe she wishes to thank me for helping her recover from the psychic wounds she got from her battle with Phoenix? As I remember she was drooling like a bucket and wetting herself for quite a while." Terrence answered his voice filled with slight spite and arrogance.

"Don't overestimate yourself, Matthews." Emma Frost responded proudly and coldly. "Your assistance was merely a tiny bonus which helped me regain my sanity.

"You should thank Shaw's secretary as well, Emma. I wouldn't have done it without Tessa's guidance." Terrence rubbed it in. It had been taxing trying to heal the damage Phoenix had inflicted on her and the strain of breaking through her psychic defences almost killed him. It left him bed-ridden during that entire Black Queen fiasco where Jason Wyngarde lost control over Phoenix and the X-Men managed to escape and defeat the Inner Circle who had earlier subdued and captured them.

"You are testing my **patience**, Matthews." Emma said to him with a frown. "I recovered through my own strength and will."

"I still think it was a mistake of Shaw to appoint me as a representative in our newly established intergalactic counterpart of the Inner Circle." Matthews reacted quickly, knowing that he had to switch subject or suffer the White Queen's wrath.

"You're the one who suggested we make a wider approach towards our goals by establishing a new Hellfire Club faction in space." White Queen reminded him. "And the Black King has faith in you and your 'abilities'."

"Wyngarde, Pierce, or even the Black King's own **son** Shinobi would have been better candidates."

"Wyngarde's in an asylum, courtesy of Phoenix; and Pierce and Shinobi are too unreliable at times. Besides, Shaw and I know how much you have coveted the empty seat of the White King."

"It wasn't as if I was planning a coup, Miss Frost. While I have my own goals and ambitions, I still hold some loyalty to the ones who 'saved' my life."

"That's good to hear, Matthews," another voice said. The screen then split the display in two sections to allow the communication between three, revealing Sebastian Shaw."

"I take it you overheard most of the conversation, Sebastian" Terrence asked.

"Certainly. I wouldn't still be the Inner Circle's Black King if I hadn't been taking measures to protect my seat of power."

"I've managed to form a new Inner Circle by the way."

"I know, but how on Earth do you keep the Skrull and the Kree from killing each other?"

"The two are exceptions to the prejudice and grudges of their own people. They get along quite well actually? It's the others I worry about. All of them are partly uncontrollable, each of them having their own agenda."

"Welcome to the life of politics, dear." the White Queen commented in an amused manner, smiling mysteriously at him.

It had taken a while and a lot of resources to finally establish an intergalactic counterpart to the Hellfire Club in space. It had taken a while to get accustomed to the people hailing from various cultures around the galaxy, but his telepathy gave him an edge that slowly helped tilt the scales in his favour.

The Hellfire Club had become quite a success around the galaxy.

Where a magnificent temple used to be before Kagato destroyed it, reducing to a pile of rubble and murdering the clergy residing inside it, a new and magnificent mansion building stood in its place.

The richest and most powerful men and women in the galaxy had begun to attend here, gathering around the new and intriguing establishment to do business with other associates or attend the exclusive parties there.

All in all the perfect cover for a conspiracy to rule the galaxy from the shadows without people even knowing, using whatever means to acquire the power sought.

(Soon, Tenchi Masaki - revenge will be mine!) Terrence thought, knowing that soon the time to strike would come…

* * *

Seygram 13 presents: Tenchi Muyo: Hellfire and Earth

Dark Shadows Rising

* * *

Okayama prefecture:

"Oh, Tenchi!" Ryoko Hakubi said in a sing-song voice, looking for the man that she loved as she flew around the forest around the Masaki shrine.

Tenchi sighed as he looked up from the comic he was reading and raised himself from the spot he sat near the shade of a tree.

(So much for privacy today.)

It had gotten quite harder to maintain the status quo now.

Ryoko loved him. Ayeka, First Princess of Jurai loved him. Mihoshi loved him even if she stood more in the background compared to the other two. Washu had shown an interest in him, even if he didn't know if it was romantic or purely for scientific reasons. Luckily Sasami didn't harbour any romantic notions for him, he hoped.

Each day he had to maintain a balance, taking great care not to overstep the boundaries placed by himself. If he showed any traces of romantic attention on either of them, the rest would probably be heart-broken.

That was something he could not allow.

While he cared greatly for them, he felt he wasn't ready for any relationship now.

He then remembered his old friend Hiwa Takahashi, who had also loved him and had moved away when her parents got jobs in another city. She would be shocked to find out that he had aliens in his house.

Maybe this balancing on a knife's edge would sooner or later cause the girls to leave in the end, sad over his indecision.

He knew that no one would wait forever, despite what trashy romance novels said.

Maybe it was for the best. Maybe it was better to end it like this, making the girls feel that no one had actually been favoured and leaving, and not breaking the other's hearts if he actually managed to gather enough courage to choose any of them.

He felt he couldn't bear any of them looking at with sad looks and making him feel guilty for not choosing them.

His thoughts were interrupted as he was glomped by a certain space pirate, who snuggled him to her chest, making blood stream from his nose.

"Get away from him, Ryoko!" was Ayeka's standard response to this

"No can do, princess!" she responded haughtily and strengthened her hold on the poor man named Tenchi, making him look a little blue in the face.

"Release him this instant!" Ayeka's voice rose a few octaves higher. The air around her began to crackle as small wooden objects appeared around her.

Then the fight began.

Tenchi felt the air entering his nostrils and throat as he huffed for breath, savouring it as much as he could.

He knew that Ryoko cared a lot about him; but boy did she have muscles. Ayeka and Mihoshi were no slouches either, both going through combat training that would have most people die of exhaustion.

(Speak of the devil.) Tenchi thought as he heard the familiar sounds of Mihoshi's small patrol ship entering the atmosphere, and crashing into the lake as usual, resulting in a big splash and a lot of waves.

He went the lake and helped a dripping Galaxy Police officer out of the water.

One thing he respected about Mihoshi was that she was a hard-working woman compared to most of the girls, doing her duty and making the galaxy a little bit safer for most civilians around the stars. The problem was that she was a walking catastrophe.

He didn't mean to be disrespectful but even though Ayeka was trained in diplomacy and other political skills needed in the Juraian courts, she rarely had to work since she was in fact stinking rich. Ryoko on the other hand preferred drinking and having as much fun as possible. Washu could make most of the things she needed without almost any problems. At least Ayeka and… sometimes Ryoko helped clean the house.

Sasami, the young sister of Ayeka worked as the household's chef at least. While he, his father and Katsuhito, his enstranged grandfather could cook good enough to make something tasteful, the young alien girl outdid them, making them seem as rank amateurs compared to her.

Mihoshi was crying and apologizing to him as usual for her klutziness, but Tenchi just smiled and handed her a towel he carried with him since he had a small hunch that today was the GP officer's day off.

"Thanks, Tenchi," was the grateful words coming a smiling Mihoshi as she began wiping herself.

"You're welcome, Mihoshi."

In the background he heard the usual sounds made when Ayeka and Ryoko were duking it out.

Tenchi sighed in defeat. "It's days like these that make me wish to become a hermit on a tropical island or better yet, a planet."

"Why is that?" Mihoshi asked him in her usual innocent manner.

"Gee, Mihoshi, I think it has to do with those two fighting in the background and the fact that I've become one of the most powerful beings in the universe without even asking for such a power." Sometimes he hated the Light Hawk Wings, feeling that no one should ever possess such power at all. He hated the feeling when he transformed; the euphoria and rush of power; how it seemed to suppress his humanity every time he used it. He feared the day he would crave to feel the sensation of his powers and lose his last shreds of himself, becoming an aloof deity-like thing that viewed living beings as humans viewed insects. They were however useful when it came to beat every villain that came for him and the others, but in the end they would probably end up attracting more attention than helping him in any way.

_Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. _

It was something he had learned in the past about power in all forms.

What he feared most was if he was forced to make a choice between the girls and the heartbreak that would erupt. All of them had both good qualities and bad qualities that balanced each other without giving any of them a distinct advantage over the others.

Marrying them all was out of the question. He was raised as a guy who believed in monogamy, not a sick pervert wanting a polygamous harem filled with exotic women from outer space. Sure it was tempting as hell and an easy way out that could be used as a compromise if needed, but his feelings told him in the end that it was wrong.

* * *

Deep inside her laboratory Washu Hakubi was conducting another experiment. This time she was trying to create a replica of the Skrull Empire's infamous Cosmic Cube which had enabled them to carve a vast galactic empire before it mysteriously malfunctioned. So far despite being the greatest genius in the universe, Washu was somehow unable to successfully duplicate one of the greatest inventions the Skrulls had ever devised in history.

Despite all her efforts and skill in translating old computer files containing a few puzzles to the construction of such device, she was getting nowhere. She decided to postpone it until she somehow could procure sources of old information concerning the ancient Skrull Empire.

In her academy days several millennia ago she had met a few Skrulls. Not all of them fit the bill as megalomaniacal and totally obsessed with blowing the Kree into oblivion and destroying any atomic traces of them whatsoever. They had been somewhat secretive about most of their dangerous inventions, but once they managed to open up they could be as talkative as most other people. She also remembered a political scandal concerning espionage between the Kree and the Skrulls attending the academy, and the murder of a teacher suspected of working with the Skrulls, which caused most Kree and Skrulls to withdraw from the academy to avoid reprisals.

(Maybe it's time to try to get that 'sample' from Tenchi again.) she mentally sighed to herself, parts of her mind solving topics regarding while another one discussed biology and another philosophy and mathematics at the same time along with other parts of her mind busying themselves with other topics regarding science and knowledge.

It was one of the few things which prevented painful memories to resurface again. She had gotten over it; at least she believed that she had recovered from the trauma she went through. She remembered how she told Tenchi about her painful past nonchalantly as if simply shrugging it off during the period when Tenchi's baby cousin Taro had to be looked after. It had almost become instinctive to block out the pain transmitted every time images of her husband and firstborn child being torn out of her life as if they had never existed at all, filling the void with her other passion: Science. At least science didn't leave you like people leave each other. It became the crutch which kept her from going completely mad throughout the millennia. She could depend on it more than she could depend on any other thing.

She began to muse about how long it had been since she had rejected her form as an adult woman, preferring to hide her true form in the body of a child-like woman. She had revealed her old form to Tenchi during Taro's stay, but had quickly discarded it like a pile of unwanted clothes. Her mind became alert of a part of her thinking about the time back then when she had believed in something other than science and quickly suppressed them by concentrating on other subjects.

* * *

"You're as ravishing as ever, my dear White Queen," said Terrence Matthews as he kissed Yume's hand.

"Charming as ever, eh, 'Black King'?" she answered in a formal tone. Being one of the top researchers of the academy she even rivalled Washu when it came to science. She had even made her own personal bodyguards. The three robot brothers - Mushima, Takashima, and finally her ultimate warrior Hishima. While Takashima and Mushima were capable fighters, all their knowledge, skill and raw power paled before those displayed by Hishima. Even his Black Bishop lacked her experience even if he had been studying hard under Washu with Kagato and had created his own variant of Washu's infamous Ryoko project.

The Inner Sanctum of the Inner Circle was the black heart of the Hellfire Club, where the cabal met and directed their minions to do their bidding.

(How interesting…) mused Terrence. (All of us working together; but at the same time devising plots and counterplots against one another. All of us having our own agenda.)

He had no illusions about it all. While they were united as a group, most of them resented one another. His White Bishop hated him with all his heart, seeing him as a primitive ape who had no place as their leader. He wasn't the arrogant monarch trying to keep a dying planet who had outlived its days alive. And his White Bishop knew that it was his usefulness which kept him from being turned into a human vegetable placed in an intergalactic asylum.

His White Rook and Black Rook got along quite well for some reason. Despite the fact that one was a Skrull and the other one a Kree.

He seated himself on the throne of the Black King. "And once again our Inner Circle is gathered at last." He simply said while smirking as if he was the one knowing everything.

From the looks and the emotions radiating from the others he knew that they hated that he did that. He smiled as his eyes fell on his White Bishop, sensing the fury and anger boiling inside of him and then giving him a challenging look.

White Bishop met his stare, and after seconds that seemed like minutes where two wills faced each other, the White Bishop relented.

(And once again I have proven my right as the Black King.) Matthews thought darkly to himself. Shaw and Frost had been his mentors, taught him scraps of what he needed to know and how he should act among others. While Emma Frost had been the one who had been his primary teacher, his dark nature drew him to the Black King of the NY Hellfire Club - Sebastian Shaw. A man who had through numerous hardships earned his position as the Black King after ridding himself of his predecessor with the help of the talents of the one who would become the White Queen. He had also admired the talents and ambitions of the man to known to him as Jason Wyngarde, also known as Mastermind, the master of illusions. He knew that Shaw was aware of Wyngarde's plot to overthrow him with his Black Queen and Wyngarde was aware that Shaw knew as well. It had been a sinister game of wits and moves that would make chess seem like a game for children, but in the end Jason Wyngarde's sealed his own fate as his chess piece turned on him and left him in an asylum.

How ironic that Wyngarde's folly led to the death of billions of the peaceful green-skinned D'Bari as their sun exploded and their planet was destroyed after Dark Phoenix fed on their sun and speeding up its eventual death..

So many surviving D'Bari on other planets and colonies shocked to find their friends and loved ones gone as their planet ceased to exist.

Dark Phoenix's crime rivalled those of Ryoko's when it came to this dark act of inhuman cruelty, even though Crimson Phantom commented that Phoenix's deed paled in comparison to what Ryoko and her master Kagato had done through millennia.

Crimson Phantom's mind was like a labyrinth of emotions and thoughts which made him hard to read, but also made him a useful bodyguard against telepaths like himself. He noted that every time he uttered out Ryoko's name, it was filled with hatred and contempt.

How fortunate for him that he could utilize this hatred for his own benefit. All Crimson Phantom ever asked of him was the right to kill Ryoko with his bare hands. And without any interference from anyone - even him.

"Black Bishop, how goes our progress?"

"Quite well, Black King." His most trusted scientist informed him. "Everything is ready for Operation Mindflayer."

"What about interference from the outside?" his White Bishop questioned scornfully.

"As if the Fantastic Four or the Avengers can do something when they don't even have a clue about us even existing." Terrence snorted in reply. "And as for our main adversaries… let's say that Crimson Phantom is quite unlike any enemy they've ever encountered so far."

"You're sending one man against the ones who took out Kagato, the Ruin Buster himself?" Exclaimed White Bishop in shock.

"What about it?" an amused voice behind him answered. From the shadows exited Crimson Phantom as if he was a ghost. "For your information, 'Garyu', I've done my homework when it came to my targets."

Lord Garyu growled as Crimson Phantom continued: "I've studied all combat footages and deciphered reports found in Juraian memory banks and devised several countermeasures against them."

"The termination of Tenchi Masaki is our prime objective. With him out of the way the others are as good as dead."

"What about interference from Washu, Ryoko, or that brat who is assimilated with a goddess-like being."

"Relax, Yume." He answered her with an amused smile. "As always I've devised several plans to take out everyone and counterplans to counter their counterplans."

"What about the fact that Ryoko's bonded with Clay's android assassin Zero?" White Bishop countered.

"What about it? It seems that Ryoko has seemingly purged every trace of Zero from her, even if she displayed higher empathy after her assimilation but later on returned to her old self."

"Ryoko will not bother us anymore when I'm done with her." Interrupted Crimson Phantom, tired of the bantering between the man who brought him back from the dead and turned him into his personal killing machine and his scheming lackeys. "I swear by all the gods in hell that she will **die!**"

* * *

Four days have passed since Mihoshi's return.

Sasami was out shopping for groceries.

That was not something new.

The only difference was that today she was accompanied by Ryoko who carried a few bags for her.

The city was bustling with activity as usual. Despite that the technological level of this planet was very primitive, according to Juraian standards, Sasami liked it here. True it was filled with pollution and other bad things, but the galaxy was crammed with social problems, poverty, crime and numerous wars and atrocities, so this was nothing new.

A few days had passed after Mihoshi got some days off from GP HQ after apprehending a gang of smugglers who were transporting drugs to a few dozen planets with several colleagues and co-officers. The damage caused by Mihoshi and the smugglers were pretty intense and her superiors were most likely tearing out hair by the roots in frustration. Repairing that half-destroyed space station would cost a fortune and take months to fix.

Sasami enjoyed the freedom she had on Earth. On Jurai she had been pampered too the point of absurdness since she was the second daughter of the emperor of Jurai and his wife Misaki. She had been taught the skills of how to cook by several renowned chefs but was unable to practice her skills since she was of royalty and was treated as if she was the most important person in the galaxy. She was glad that Ayeka had finally accepted her after her tearful confession. As a little girl she had died and was somehow miraculously resurrected from the dead by the Juraian Goddess Tsunami when she assimilated herself with her broken and battered corpse, turning her into some sort of avatar who would in the end become one with Tsunami herself. Despite being brought back from death and possessing her old memories she hadn't felt like Sasami at all. It was as if someone had stuffed the dead princess' memories into the body of another young girl who was then forced to play the role of Sasami, the Second Princess of Jurai, using memories that felt alien to her. Ayeka had assured her that she was the real McCoy and that the feeling of alienation was the psychological side effect of dying and being brought back from the dead and becoming part of a deity and that she had nothing to fear from her or anyone else.

Still she feared the day when her entire being would become one with Tsunami; feeling that her entire being would be erased in the process of total assimilation. Despite the temptation of being a part of a goddess thrilled her, she still wished that she had been only Sasami. Just plain and simple Sasami without any worries about the heavy burden of the ascension of deityhood and the responsibilities that came with it.

_With great power comes great responsibility._

A responsibility she would rather decline than accept.

In the last days she had nightmares filled with unimaginable horror that made her wake up screaming as if the fabric of reality was torn asunder by the careless hands of a sculptor remoulding it in his image: a world that could only be fabricated by nightmares itself.

It wasn't her usual apocalyptic nightmares in which Tokimi was the centre of this chaos. The shadowy but slightly form in her nightmares was weaker than Tsunami and Tokimi at their weakest, but it didn't lessen his cruelty and immense evil in any way. An evil which could disrupt the true timeline which Tsunami had foreseen and plunge it into chaos.

For all his evil Kagato the Ruin Buster had seemed more like a dark force of nature than a man. This evil was like a spider that lurked in the shadows and spun its webs of deceit there. A spider which could feel almost everything which came in contact with its web - be it friend or foe. Sasami knew that raw power was not the true way to power in itself; and she knew about many tyrants in the past that had used guile to amass power and ruled planets with an iron fist without the populace even noticing them.

"Somethin' botherin' ya, Sas?" Ryoko asked her while she held several shopping bags filled with groceries and other foodstuffs.

"No, it's nothing." Sasami answered. She felt a slight pang of guilt for lying to her, but she didn't want Ryoko to become involved with something she had to handle on her own.

Somehow she felt that this day would be the last day she would ever know true peace.

* * *

From the top of a skyscraper stood a red-clad, veiled figure.

He stared at the targets through his binoculars.

"The day of reckoning is at hand…" he whispered.

He traced a finger over the scar on his face, reminiscing over the past he had; the man he had been.

Matthews had supplied him with an upgraded version of his black combat armour. It was a beautiful piece of art in itself. It was both light and durable and could withstand heavy damage without cracking a single dent. The blood-like colour even fitted his taste.

This day all the training and hardships he went through would bear fruit.

He was an angel.

_A blood-red angel of death._

* * *

_In the next chapter Ryoko will fight a battle of life and death. Confronted with her dark past as Kagato's assassin she will face one of her worst adversaries ever._

_Next: _**The Wrath of the Crimson Phantom**

* * *


	2. Wrath of The Crimson Phantom

Disclaimer: I don't own Tenchi Muyo or any Marvel-related material in this fic. And for your information the Marvel timeline in this story is set after the Dark Phoenix saga in Uncanny X-Men.

* * *

Chris Oddland presents: Tenchi Muyo Hellfire and Earth

Wrath of the **Crimson Phantom**.

* * *

Crimson Phantom suppressed a sneer of malice as eyes once again fell on Ryoko through his scope. "After all these years you're still as beautiful as ever." He spat out in disgust.

He had already readied his sniper rifle a long time ago and was now training it on the upper torso of Ryoko who was walking down the streets holding plastic bags filled with groceries for Sasami whom she earlier had accompanied to town. He knew that it was more lethal to aim for more vital spots like the head but the chances were also slimmer when it came to hitting.

No one could see the smile behind his blood-red veil as he pulled the trigger.

"It's time to say 'hello'," was all he said.

* * *

The streets were filled with panic as the crowd became audience to the sound of a rifle being fired.

Ryoko screamed as a high-powered bullet made from an alien metal from another planet pierced her left shoulder and dropped the bags, spilling various vegetables and spices on the street.

"Ryoko!" Sasami managed to cry out before Ryoko instinctively pushed her down to the ground and began to shield her with her own body as bullets began to rain close to them. The bullets burrowed themselves into the concrete as they struck the ground.

Suddenly the shootings stopped. Ryoko raised herself from the ground while clutching her shoulder with her right hand, trying to stop the flow of blood. She gritted her teeth as she mentally tried to shield out the pain. It was something she had learned from Kagato in the past after sustaining wounds that would have killed any ordinary person on the spot. Kagato had made her - , no forced her into trying to block out the immense pain in her chest and other parts of the body for several hours before he finally rejuvenated her body using the medical equipment on his ship to heal her severe wounds. She was glad he was dead now.

She realized that someone had missed her on purpose with the following shots. Her lips turned into a mocking smile as she teleported herself high up in the air.

Scanning the rooftops after her attacker, she failed to see the kick striking her from behind. Ryoko gritted her teeth as she was struck with the force of a jackhammer and slammed through a window and crashed into a bathtub.

(How did that happen?" Ryoko mentally exclaimed to herself, feeling a tinge of shame. She prided herself of being one of the best warriors in the galaxy, and someone had just managed to hit her from behind as if she was just a rank amateur. After recovering from the impact she soared like a high-speed rocket out of the ruined window.

(Where is he?)

Her question was answered with a blow to her face, striking her nose dead on. A cracking noise was heard as her nose became broken. She didn't even have time to howl out in pain as another blow caught her in the stomach, making her wheeze after breath and feeling pain anew.

"Hello gorgeous." A figure hovering in front of her said cheerfully. His tone then turned darker as she nonchalantly said: "Goodbye!"

* * *

People could only stare in shock as a cyan-haired woman crashed through an apartment building and crashed through the other side before halting in the air and flying towards the direction she came from.

* * *

Ryoko screamed a demon-like warcry as her energy sword manifested in her hands, intending to split her enemy's head like a ripe melon.

As fast as she was her adversary matched her as he parried her blow with his own energy sword. Thus began a flurry of blows as both tried to slash through each others defences using ripostes and feints to find openings. They seemed evenly matched as neither managed to obtain a foothold over the other.

Minutes later they were both hovering a few metres from one another panting of exhausting their energies on their duel.

"Your getting sloppy, Ryoko, even a half-dead Yosho could take you out in ten minutes," was the insult coming from the red-clad and veiled person attacking her. From the tone of his she could identify him as a male, and the insult was filled with enough emotion to enrage her.

Ryoko screamed as her sword began to take on a darker colour than the normal orange hue it usually had - and sped towards him in an attempt to decapitate him with a single powerful swipe.

He answered by turning her back to her and flying away with inhuman speed.

"Oh, no you don't!" Ryoko cried out as she gave chase to her prey.

Crimson Phantom suppressed a grin beneath his veil as Ryoko took the bait. (This is too easy.)

He dodged an energy blast hurled from him by Ryoko. The blast struck a building with a small, violent explosion.

He could sense a light being extinguished for all eternity as a pile of rubble crushed a person to death. He wondered how many people had met the same fate when Ryoko ordered Ryo-Ohki to open fire on various worlds, exterminating all traces of life. His accomplice was doing almost a too good job with her.

Ryoko hurled barrages of energy blasts at him which he dodged with ease. Several people didn't even have time to scream as they were incinerated by a stray blast. Some died when the blast hit building and piles of debris collapsed on top of them, crushing them like insects. Explosions also followed - maiming and killing people through the explosion itself or shrapnel.

(Carelessness was always your trademark, Ryoko). He thought grimly as he turned on his internal com-link.

* * *

"She's taken the bait, sir" A man said, his headset transferring his words to Crimson Phantom via the advanced com-system.

He was but one of the many technician observing the fight through several monitors and helping co-ordinate the battle. The room was filled with the best technology Earth could offer, and was purchased by their employer Terrence Matthews. Several instruments were already scanning the battle and various screens began to display Ryoko while revealing information and measuring her powers, pulse-rate and heartbeats.

"Excellent, how are the death-rates?" Crimson Phantom asked worried.

"Rising slowly and steadily, sir?" the technician remarked with the same calculating manner of an empiricist.

"I need the location of the closest area where civilian casualties will be minimal." Crimson Phantom said while dodging another blast.

Several machines began scanning the city after seemingly empty areas.

"Keep her distracted, and we'll come up with available locations." The head technician said as he digested various pieces of information given to him by the machines.

* * *

From a seemingly normal street café a man sat outside, enjoying a nice cup of tea as he telepathically observed the carnage created by the thread he so carelessly pulled.

He wore casual street clothes and dark sunglasses; his black leather jacket lying on another chair beside. He picked up the teacup that lay on the small table outside and drank a little tea calmly as if nothing was happening.

Around him people were panicking.

Terrence Matthews suppressed a sneer as he closed his mind to the chaotic thoughts flung back and forward. Despite that he could feel the empathic traces of fear coming from the people around him.

Utilizing his powers, he calmed the people down, making their retreat less chaotic and more disciplined and calmer. Seeing people trampling each other to death in panic would spoil the nice satisfaction of his meal he thought as he bit into the sandwich.

He had done as Crimson Phantom told him.

(The rest is up to him now.) He thought calmly as he savoured the taste of his meal.

* * *

"I think it's time I take the offensive, space pirate!" Crimson Phantom cried out as he struck out with his fist dodging the sweep of Ryoko's energy blade and striking her hard in the solar plexus. He missed as the cyan-haired woman suddenly disappeared.

He swore loudly in an alien language, ignited his own energy sword. The sword was of a simple metallic construction, imitating more the Shi'ar energy blades than the ones praised by the arrogant Juraians. The colour of this blade was blue in contrast to the red colour which covered him. He did a sharp turn and blocked a blow from Ryoko's blade, gritting his teeth under the veil as the blades struck with incredible force.

(That blow would have killed me,) he thought grimly as they fought on, (Despite being locked up for seven centuries she still has over one millennia of experience in almost any kind of combat. ) He quickly reacted by racing away from Ryoko without turning back to her, holding his sword in both hands in a simple defensive stance.

Ryoko grinned a devilish grin that many men and women had seen before they met their fate at her hands. (This is too easy!)

She recognized the intent of the stance and the strategy behind it. And she had also managed to devise several techniques to neutralize it completely. She charged at him, soaring through the air, intending to fake a brutal onslaught of attacks, but instead using this as a ruse and then thrust her trusty blade between her adversary's ribs.

Her adversary responded by holding up his open hand at her - and Ryoko screamed as pain engulfed her, making her sword dissipate, forcing her clutch her head in pain as she felt blood running from her ears. Her ears overloaded with sound.

Crimson Phantom grinned as his sonic projector bombarded Ryoko with a vicious sonic assault that rendered her almost incapable of concentrating properly. He knew that it would keep her too busy from teleporting around, but she still retained her ability to fly despite the inhuman pain she went through. He increased the sound intensity, seeing that he had neutralized Ryoko.

Ryoko screamed began to sound more like the agonized howl of a dying animal as she lost control of her flying. Rapidly she descended from the air hitting a parked car. Making her cry out sharply as she impacted against the metallic surface of the car's roof.

* * *

"Oh, my god!" Sasami cried out as Ryoko chased after her unknown assailant. "What's happening?" The outburst was more a question to herself than to any bystander.

She didn't even get time to react as a black-gloved hand clamped around her mouth and she felt a sudden pain in the neck before all turned black.

Her assailant smiled as he withdrew the syringe needle from Sasami's neck, the entire content of the syringe emptied.

"Sweet dreams kiddo," he said as the sound of an ambulance was heard. He smiled at the simple cover-up. The ambulance personnel were in reality fellow mercenaries like him dressed up as humble hospital workers. The panic around him made the crowd ignorant of his little stunt.

Sasami was lifted up by two men and placed in a stretcher in the back of the ambulance.

"Sleeping like a baby," one of the men dressed as member of the ambulance team commented smilingly.

"Maybe it's because of the drug I pumped into her. That stuff could even put a rampaging elephant to sleep in a few seconds." The black-gloved man answered as he entered the back of the ambulance and closing the door behind him. The driver started the vehicle and seconds later it rushed past a couple of real ambulances racing to various areas to take care of the wounded and injured.

* * *

"We've found a suitable location a couple of kilometres away from where you are," the technician reported him through the comlink. "It's a park that shows few signs of activity at the moment."

"Thank you." Crimson Phantom responded as his internal computers received information setting up several waypoints to his new destination. He hoped stopped tagging Ryoko with his sonic blaster the moment she fell like a brick and had simply observed how she impacted against a car without any passengers inside of it.

He knew he wasn't Ryoko's equal when it came to both power and skill combined, but despite all her advantages he still had some tricks up his sleeve. And what he managed to just now proved that the space pirate who terrorized the galaxy was not invincible. _You better be good children, or Ryoko will come and get you._ That had been something parents for centuries had told their young ones to make them behave - and it worked almost every time.

He ignored Ryoko as he began to fly in the direction of the park, while his computers still recorded that Ryoko's life-signs were still strong. His computers estimated that it would take approximately two minutes for her to recover.

He increased his speed, the park coming rapidly into view. He had only a few seconds before she came after him.

* * *

The car suddenly exploded and a cyan-haired woman hovered over the remains. An aura of immense energy crackling turbulently and brutally like an out-of-control storm.

She gave out a savage sound which made several people around the block paralyzed of fear at this inhuman sound which promised painful death. Then the figure began to fly like a streaking comet through the sky after her prey.

She was going to kill him.

She was going to make him suffer.

She was going to make him beg for death.

A part of Ryoko was brutally shocked over such savagery flaring up in her again. Turbulent emotions she had thought she finally had buried with the death of Kagato at Tenchi's hands. The euphoria she had felt when she murdered without remorse. The thrill of ending a life without any sign of mercy. The screams she heard through her speakers as she ordered Ryo-Ohki to open fire on the planets and colonies and her beautiful and cruel mocking laughter as she beheld the deaths of men, women and children. A part of her shuddered at thought of those memories re-surfacing again.

Her thoughts were interrupted as gunshots were fired in short succession from an area nearby. Ryoko followed the sounds and found herself standing in the middle of an empty park filled with numerous trees.

"Fight me like a man, you coward!" she cried out.

"Against you? Not likely!" A voice behind her said and delivered a chopping knife-hand blow to her neck. Ryoko was sent to the ground, pain coursing through her nervous system.

"You know: normally a blow like that would break a man's neck easily." A kick struck her in the face, making her spit blood.

"Did you think that Jurai dissolving your warrant after killing Kagato made people forget what you did? Did you think it redeemed you?"

Several kicks connected to her chest and ribs until she finally caught his foot, using his momentum as she twisted it to trip him to the ground beside her.

"How dare you judge me?" Ryoko roared out rage as she instantly manifested her blade and pounced on him, trying to pin him to the ground.

Then she felt pain as a gun fired - striking her in the chest with tremendous force. She sprawled backwards. Four more shots followed, each hitting an area of her upper body.

"Normally bullets would just bounce off you like water, Ryoko, but this baby's been made especially to kill the likes of you."

"Who are you?" she managed to stutter as she managed to stand up, blocking out the immense pain coursing through her chest.

"A ghost from the past, space pirate," he answered, training his gun at her while preparing himself for a surprise attack, "The one who will finally make you pay for the numerous lives you took. The planets you destroyed and the suffering you have inflicted upon others."

Another bullet was fired. This time it pierced through her leg.

"I am Crimson Phantom - Your angel of death!" he said coldly.

As he said that - Ryoko unleashed a high-power energy blast that struck him with the force of an artillery barrage. And the park was set ablaze as trees caught fire.

"If you think I'm going to let a second-rate clown like you kill me, you're sadly mistaken buster!"

Out from nowhere a flash of blue crashed down - and Ryoko screamed as her right arm was severed from her shoulder.

"You're the fool here!" he hissed. "You always judge your enemies by their power, not their skill. What I lack in raw power I make up for in combat skills."

Crimson Phantom looked like he had been through hell and back. His cracked blood red armour and torn red veil were partially burned by her attack. Sparks erupted from various parts of his body. Ryoko could also see that where normally flesh should be, there instead was metal.

"If you think chopping my arm off will make it easy - then you're even dumber than I thought!" Ryoko responded hotly and proudly.

"If you're referring to the battle where Tenchi cut off your hand, then I know what you're talking about." Crimson Phantom said.

Ryoko was taken aback by that answer. No-one outside of the Masaki home had never found out what took place that night on the grounds of Tenchi's school.

"You're worse off than me, pal." She then said. "So why don't you be a nice boy - and **die**!"

(She's right. Even without all her power gems that blast should have incinerated me if I hadn't partially dodged it… and my armour took the brunt of the blast.) The thought raced through his mind while he tried to focus and remain calm despite knowing that even without her arm, Ryoko was even better off than him.

"Maybe you are right. Do you intend to find out?" he arrogantly replied back at her. "Or do you rely on that pathetic child Tenchi to save your life all the time?" he added, grinding more salt on her injured pride.

Ryoko let out a bloodcurdling roar, flying at him full speed, an orange blade of pure energy raised.

Crimson Phantom answered by activating his sonic blaster - bombarding her with intensified sound-waves meant to kill.

(Checkmate, bitch!)

The space pirate curled to the ground screaming in pain.

As Crimson Phantom increased the output - the device suddenly short-circuited, sparks erupting around a red-covered, metallic arm. He swore loudly as Ryoko continued to lie there.

He was interrupted as a voice was heard through the static com-link.

"We-Wee… go-gooot… hh-hee-er! Retu-uurn t-too ba-baase…" Crimson Phantom could nearly understand what the technician said through the damaged instrument.

"Affirmative," he responded.

"It looks like this match is a draw, Ryoko." He answered in a slightly content tone, not knowing if she could hear him due to her temporarily scrambled hearing. He took off from the ground, flying slower than usual, but still fast enough to maintain up to almost Mach 1 speed without effort.

* * *

In the pocket dimension anchored to the vicinity of the Masaki residence - Washu Hakubi suddenly screamed as her senses were assaulted with inhuman pain. Feeling that her eardrums were about to burst.

Minutes alter she found herself on the "floor" of her lab, feeling blood pour out of both her ears. Managing to stand up, feeling her body scream in protest as she through her own willpower raised herself, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. Wiping the blood away, she quickly assessed the situation.

Something had happened to her daughter.

Through their psychic link she had experienced the pain of her daughter as she just re-connected the link she had temporarily disabled for scientific purposes.

True she had never been really close to her daughter as she had been to her first child. Even sometimes misusing her for her own cold, calculating experiments without a second thought. But despite that she still retained some of her maternal instincts, feeling a strange bond to her second child. Understanding her in a way she could never understand herself.

Activating her holographic computer which was linked to her vast and colossal computer network, she quickly opened a dimensional rift through time and space itself; teleporting her daughter immediately to the laboratory.

Washu gasped in horror as she saw her daughter. The mutilations deliberately and knowingly inflicted on her with cold precision.

"Just hold on Ryoko," she said as she punched in several commands to her computer….

* * *

Moments later Ryoko Hakubi was enclosed in a giant glass cylinder, several monitors monitoring her brainwaves and her physical body functions. A strange alien liquid engulfing Ryoko sped up her natural healing process. Washu could even see damaged tissue heal before her eyes as she operated several mechanical surgery instruments from her computer.

Using her vast medical skills when it came to near-perfect surgery, Washu managed to remove several bullets that were imbedded through Ryoko's chest.

She hissed in disgust as she read the medical report from one of the holographic screens beside her. The damage to her ears and brain were intense. If it hadn't been for Ryoko's ability to heal almost any damage, she would have become permanently deaf.

"I'm sorry, Ryoko." Washu said as she mentally entered through her daughter's unconscious mind using the mental link she used to read her daughter's thoughts and memories. Probing through the recent memories of an unexpected battle that rendered Ryoko incapacitated. Seeing the veiled face of a man dressed in red. A man calling himself Crimson Phantom. The memory of intense pain as her ears were overloaded by painful sound.

Despite doing this in the past, Washu still felt some small amount guilt in her heart over invading her daughter's privacy and analyzing her thoughts like a scientist observing a lab rat. She suppressed that guilt like she had suppressed most of her emotions a long time ago, using various internal logical arguments to justify it.

She sighed as she summoned Tenchi, Ayeka and Ryo-Ohki to her lab. Hoping that Mihoshi wouldn't by some freak accident appear and wreck parts of her carefully constructed lab unintentionally as she sometimes did.

* * *

"Is that the best you can do?" Ayeka laughed mockingly to the Juraian Guardians Azaka and Kamidake as they resumed their attack patterns. Despite looking like harmless blocks made out of wood, the two biological robots were formidable warriors against almost everything.

The Juraian princess gracefully avoided an energy blast flung by Kamidake and vaulted over Azaka, using the guardian to propel her motion towards Kamidake and delivering a powerful kick that struck the centre of him. Kamidake crashed into the ground as Azaka rushed to Ayeka from behind. The sudden appearance of a force field made him impact against a seemingly invisible wall.

"You two are getting sloppy." The Princess commented matter-of-factly as she gazed critically at them both. She wore her Juraian combat armour and the war paint.

Despite of Ryoko mocking her of being the perfect "daddy's little girl" all the time and a prissy, spoiled brat compared to **her** the so-called great and not to mention beautiful space pirate Ryoko - She still could give a mean left hook.

Ayeka knew that she had to prepare for the future if some intergalactic clown with too much power and a too large ego came knocking on the door.

Creating a dense force field around her arms, she delivered a powerful blow as she made a lunge forward, striking Azaka simultaneously as she instinctively expanded her force-field, creating a battering ram effect which sent Azaka straight at Kamidake like a cannonball.

As the dust settled, two guardians lay on the ground like fallen domino pieces.

"I win this round." She simply answered showing a small smile. It had been hard for her in the beginning, but the moment she managed to split the two up minutes later, she knew she had them.

As single units both of them were formidable. But that also meant that there was a minimal chance to exploit the fact that they weren't using teamwork to take her down.

"Bloody great workout, don't you thinks so boys?" she said to her Juraian guardians, retaining some of her politeness that royalty on her planet considered proper for girls like her.

Her father would probably have frowned at her usage of words and then told her that this was no way for a proper lady to act and maybe scold her, and her mother would probably be her overcheerful self as usual, while Aunt Funaho would remain calm as usual.

She walked over to a thermos. Opening it she poured some still warm Earl Grey tea into a cup. As she drank it she heard clapping sounds from the background.

She turned around and saw Tenchi and Ryo-Ohki with astonished and impressed looks on their faces. It looked quite funny and cute seeing Ryo-Ohki clap her hands in her cabbit form.

"That was impressive, Ayeka," Tenchi said, "Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"You'd be surprised how much you learn when you watch the news Tenchi."

"The news?" Tenchi answered surprised.

"She's referring to the footages of super-powered beings 'duking it out' on television." Kamidake explained to him.

"Learned some new moves and techniques by watching Daredevil defeat some crooks a while ago." The purple-haired woman shrugged as she wiped away the sweat and the war paint with a towel that lay nearby the thermos.

It had become a way for her to deal with her rivalry with Ryoko over Tenchi, and also a frustration outlet and the perfect opportunity to exercise her rusty combat skills.

All three of them were completely unprepared as the world around them suddenly became distorted and brightened as if they had looked into the blitz of a camera; as their eyes recovered they suddenly realized that they were now in Washu's lab.

Ayeka gasped as she beheld her rival in the healing tank, wondering who the blazes was dumb enough to actually attack Ryoko Hakubi. While she still bore some old grudges against the former space pirate, she still felt some kinship with her due to the fact that both of them were in the past moulded into something they never wanted to be. She was forced from a young age to behave demure, polite and proper like any royal princess of a galactical empire should. Ryoko on the other hand was brainwashed into becoming a self-willed extension of Kagato. His private assassin and executioner. Capable of independent thoughts and actions, but still subservient to Kagato due to the intense brainwashing and whatever torture he let her go through the centuries to forge her into his private weapon as a means to unlock the many secrets of Tsunami and the mythical Light Hawk Wings.

Tenchi was equally horrified, seeing Ryoko's injuries as she floated unconsciously inside the large tank.

"Oh my god…. Ryoko!" he simply whispered.

A horrible realization came over Ayeka as she calmed herself down from the shock.

"Where's Sasami!" she gasped in horror.

* * *

Sasami stirred as she opened her eyes, remembering a slightly painful prick in her neck before passing out.

Her sight still blurry, she managed to realize that she was sitting on some sort of chair, confining her arms and legs. Squinting her eyes she managed to focus on the view in front of her.

She saw that she was in a sombre, metallic room with modest enough furniture. And that her arms and legs were confined with metallic bands which held her in place to a chair made of metal. She also felt that some sort of weird circlet had been placed on her head.

"It's for preventing you from contacting Tsunami, 'your highness'," an unknown voice explained to her from behind. She couldn't see him despite turning her head slightly to the side too see who was talking to her.

"I see you've recovered from that little drug one of my men gave," she heard the voice continue as she heard footsteps nearing her from behind, "The dose you were given would have knocked out an elephant in an instant, you know. If the dose had been higher I doubt you would have survived and I couldn't let that happen, could I?"

"Who are you?" Sasami asked him, hoping that the question would stall him long enough so that she could contact Tsunami. In her mind she felt a void of emptiness instead of the feeling she usually had when Tsunami was forced to act through her, she could feel traces of something familiar at least, but it was like a voice far away. As she concentrated on that familiarity, her mind was filled with immense pain. And Sasami howled out in agony.

"I told you that wouldn't work, kid," the voice chuckled maliciously as he appeared before her.

She recognized him immediately. He was the man who attacked Ryoko. She also observed that the armour around his torso was black instead of the red colour she had seen in the city; but still he wore the burned and torn blood crimson veil, hiding all but his eyes and the big scar over his eye.

"As you can see your friend almost became the winner of our little skirmish." He commented casually as he looked at his right hand. A cybernetic hand constructed entirely of metal and covered with small cracks. "But fortunately for me I'm harder to kill than most people she slaughtered in the past. Did you know she liked to blow up orphanages just to watch small children be torn to pieces or burned alive?" he then added darkly. His gaze towards her filled with disgust and contempt.

"You're lying!" Sasami cried out angrily in response at what he just said. "Ryoko's not like that! And we all know that Kagato controlled her!"

A slap silenced her. She felt stinging pain on her cheek as angry eyes stared at her.

"Maybe that's what others want you to believe." He hissed but then calmed down.

She could also feel him sadistically smile behind his veil as he said: "The stories I could tell of her…"

* * *

If there was one other person Ayeka cared almost more for than Tenchi, it was her little sister.

"What do you mean you can't find her?" she roared to Washu.

"I told you I've scanned the globe over twenty times and there's still no trace of her." Washu spat out as she continued monitoring the various holographic display screens while punching in several commands to her computer.

"Have you tried looking for her in space?" Tenchi asked the self-proclaimed intergalactic genius.

"No I've been trying to make a nice cup of cappuccino…. Of course I've been trying to look for her in space, you dolt!" she spat out furiously in rage.

(Sasami, where are you?) Ayeka thought worriedly as she felt some kind of empty space inside of her that her younger sister had filled.

* * *

"You're lying!" Sasami screamed, her eyes red after crying as her captor described graphically and callously of how Ryoko dismembered, tortured and killed in the past. How the former space pirate took great pleasure in inflicting pain upon others.

The frantic sobs coming from the little girl was like music to his ears. He wondered what Tsunami was thinking now, knowing that the entire cell was constructed to block out and distort the link between her and Sasami. He also knew that the goddess was experiencing the same emotional torment as the little princess.

Crimson Phantom stopped talking about Ryoko and told her: "I'm not lying, girl. I'm simply telling it from my point of view."

He then looked at her with contempt as he then said, "Since you won't believe I guess I have to resort to the vast collection of records and footages from Ryoko's colourful past with a nifty little holographic projector I'm going to fetch. Or how about watching the news today and see the destruction caused by your so-called friend?"

He would enjoy torturing this little brat. His reasons were simple: to hurt his enemy through their loved ones. And the irony of it all was that he was going to destroy her with the truth of all things. If it had only been that fool Tenchi who was the love interest of Ryoko instead of Sasami strapped to that chair; but alas it was Terrence who had claimed that privilege.

Sasami looked at him in horror as he walked out of the room.

* * *

_A week has passed._

All of them were worried sick over Sasami being kidnapped. And worst of all there were no traces of her anywhere and no clues to follow, not even any red herrings to lead them astray.

Ayeka and Tenchi had finally gone to the police a few days ago, despite Washu's comment about the primitiveness of the police on Earth.

The Juraian princess knew that this was no time for her squabbling with Ryoko over Tenchi and was concentrating all her efforts to stay calm despite the nagging fear inside her chest.

To their surprise Mihoshi was also at the station, arriving there before them. She had with her extensive Galaxy Police training given them a description of the little girl and had convinced the chief to put some of his best men on the case after Mihoshi impressed him with her skills as a police officer of exceptional rank.

Ayeka look tired as the three exited the police station, her eyes filled with worry over her little sister. All these days she spent little time resting, eating and drinking using whatever resources she had to find her.

Tenchi looked reluctant at her as they continued their slow pace to the bus stop. He had avoided asking her this question in fear of what he might hear to confirm some of his fears. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves down and the conflicting feelings inside. "Why don't you ask your father for help?" he asked Ayeka.

Ayeka looked at him seriously as she said: "Because I fear the coming of reprisals from Jurai against Earth if this comes out. It might give certain influential members of Jurai who have always hated Yosho for not being a pure Juraian an excuse to either invade or destroy it."

"You're serious?" Tench answered in disbelief.

"Yes," was the only word Ayeka said almost whispering as she looked towards him.

As a young girl she had deep inside her known that her half-brother was treated differently than other children - often scorned and despised by those who considered themselves pure-blooded Juraians. Despite not showing it towards either her and their parents, she knew the Yosho always hurt deeply inside for being different to them. Even when Yosho finally disappeared from Jurai after Ryoko's attack, the hatred didn't dissipate. Many wanted to obliterate Earth to show their contempt towards the planet they considered degenerate by their standards.

"Don't worry, Ayeka," Mihoshi assured her as she placed her hand on her shoulder, "we'll find her."

Mihoshi knew that it was hard as hell to keep the Juraian princess from falling into despair over the disappearance of her little sister, and it was also hard to keep up her usual cheerful façade as well. Knowing from her intuition as a GP officer, she knew that Sasami's abduction was connected with the attack on Ryoko.

She sighed sadly and closed her eyes as she thought about the beautiful, cyan-haired woman. She knew she could never compete with Ryoko and Ayeka when it came to physical attractiveness, charm, intelligence and strength.

(If only you knew my feelings for you, Tenchi…) she thought sadly as she gazed at him while he wasn't looking at her

* * *

The planet reminded of an image from hell. Corpses of men, women and children lay strewn everywhere. Burning and crumbling ruins decorated this dead wasteland of a planet while the two remaining fought.

Crimson Phantom gave out a triumphant roar as he decapitated Ryoko with a desperate blow from his energy sword.

"Danger Room, end combat sequence," he said wearily.

The holographic battle scenario and Ryoko's corpse disappeared, replaced now by a large metallic room.

Crimson Phantom fell on his knees, supporting himself by placing his hands on the metallic surface of the floor.

"You knew that you still haven't recovered completely from Ryoko's attack," Terrence Matthew's voice chided him from the speaker system. "And the technicians still haven't repaired everything to one hundred percent efficiency."

"Stay out of this." Was the growl coming from Crimson Phantom as sparks began to come from various areas around his body.

"And now you strained yourself to the limit as usual." Terrence Matthews sighed. "Those people aren't exactly cheap, you know."

"I have enough money, Matthews. What I do with it is my own business." Was the reply coming from Crimson Phantom as he suppressed the pain.

"It was quite a masterstroke of you to have Black Bishop duplicate the X-Men's Danger Room and also equip it with Shi'ar technology to make it even more effective by creating holographic scenarios and settings were you pit yourself against lifelike simulacrums of your most hated enemy." Terrence applauded him as he observed the man he had both found and then turned into one of his most potent

Terrence Matthews observed the various combat data inside the control room that monitored and controlled the entire Danger Room. He knew that his pawn improved almost every time he fought the various holographic simulacrums of Ryoko Hakubi, sometimes making fatal mistakes several times, but also improving him mentally and physically for the final encounter.

(I just hope you know what you're doing.) He thought worriedly as Crimson Phantom exited the Danger Room and headed to the infirmary.)

He knew that the next time Ryoko and Crimson Phantom would clash - only one would survive.

* * *

In the next chapter it will be a final duel to the death between Ryoko and Crimson Phantom. Only **One** will survive this deadly outcome!

_Next:_ **Time to Die! Part 1 of 2**

* * *


End file.
